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Policy Memo: Illinois Healthy Women Ending 12/31/14

Summary

The Illinois Healthy Women (IHW) program is being phased out over the next 12 months, ending December 31, 2014;

Women who are participating in IHW as of January 2014 will have their enrollment extended through December 31, 2014;

Auto-enrollment of women into IHW ended in December 2013;

Women will no longer receive enrollment or reenrollment Forms 3815/S or 3815A/S;

The application for IHW is being removed from the Illinois Healthy Women website in January 2014; and

Client Notice 13.35/S was mailed to women who are participating in IHW to encourage them to visit GetCoveredIllinois.com to learn about health care options available to them in January 2014.

To pave the way for new medical coverage options through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) authorized an extension of the Illinois Healthy Women family planning waiver through 12/31/14.

Starting in January 2014, the ACA requires everyone to have health insurance covering a defined package of health benefits including family planning services. Because IHW coverage is limited to family planning and related services, it is not considered minimum essential coverage. By enrolling in full health care coverage, women will still be able to access the services previously provided by IHW.

Client Notice 13.35 & 14.09

Client Notice 13.35/S (pdf) was mailed December 27, 2013 to women who are currently enrolled in IHW.Client Notice 14.09/S Important News about Your Illinois Healthy Women Coverage will be mailed again every other month beginning in February 2014 to the current IHW enrollees to remind them to apply for full health coverage. Encourage women who have questions about health coverage to visit the GetCoveredIllinois.com website to learn about their full health care coverage options. Many women are expected to qualify for ACA Adult coverage.

Eligibility

Applications

The IHW application is being removed from the IHW website. Although the IHW application will no longer be available on the IHW website, the hard copy application is still available. All Kids unit will continue to process IHW applications received on or before September 30, 2014. The number of IHW applications received in 2014 is expected to taper off as women begin applying for full health care coverage.

Approvals

Approvals may be processed through terminal entry effective December 2014. Do not approve any IHW cases effective January 2015 or later.

Auto-Enrollments

Auto-enrollment of women who lose regular medical coverage stopped in December 2013. Subsequently the mailing of Form 3815 Illinois Healthy Women Enrollment is also stopped.

Enrollment Extensions

Women who are currently enrolled in IHW as of January 2014 will have their enrollment extended in MMIS through December 31, 2014. The mailing of 3815A Illinois Healthy Women Re-Enrollment Forms is stopped as of December 2013.